Buninyong men eager for official shed

HAVING been limited by numbers, space and time, the Buninyong Men’s Shed group will finally have a shed of its own.

The group of men has been meeting at a friend’s shed one morning a week for the past few years.

President Bill Jolly said the group started to look for a proper space about 18 months ago, with Ballarat City Council allocating a Forest Street block of land where former tennis club rooms were situated.

The group has also received a $60,000 state government grant, further Bendigo Bank funding and council support for the $94,000 project. Construction of the shed will begin in the second half of this year.

Some of the men started meeting almost five years ago to get away for a couple of hours a day but was not an official Men’s Shed group.

Three years ago they registered as an official association and have now grown to 15 members.

“We’d like to have more. We have 34 on a waiting list, but because of the size of our space we’re restricted,” Mr Jolly said.

The new shed will allow for 50 members and give the men access seven days a week, instead of their current one meeting a week.

The shed will be about 13m by 55m, more than 10 times the size of the backyard shed they are using.

So far the group has made a range of items, including playground equipment, a CFA training shed and concrete posts for the cemetery.

“Everyone says they look forward to our meeting each week.

“Some come for relaxation, some come to work and some come for the social aspect.”

Mr Jolly said there was a lot of equipment they could not use at the moment because they did not have the space.

“We’re looking forward to finally having the space to have some of the bigger equipment.”